A Man Called Ove Reviewed By Ekta R. Garg of Bookpleasures.com

Ekta R. Garg

Reviewer Ekta Garg: Ekta
has actively written and edited since 2005 for publications like: The
Portland Physician Scribe; the Portland Home Builders
Association home show magazines; ABCDlady; and The
Bollywood Ticket. With an MSJ in magazine publishing from
Northwestern University Ekta also maintains The
Write Edge-a professional blog for her writing. In addition
to her writing and editing, Ekta maintains her position as a
“domestic engineer”—housewife—and enjoys being a mother to
two beautiful kids.

A crotchety old man finds
his repeated attempts to commit suicide foiled when his neighbors and
community members refuse to let him die in peace. The neighbors and
community members don’t exactly intervene in his suicide plans;
it’s just that they can’t seem to get anything right. Swedish
author Fredrik Backman brings his debut novel, A Man Called Ove, to
the West and will entertain and engage readers right to the end with
this delightful story.

Ove knows people don’t
see things his way, which is a shame because they’re missing out on
the right way of life. These days, he surmises, everyone worries more
about their newfangled computers and cell phones. People don’t take
the time to learn simple things like how to fix household items or
how to back a trailer into a driveway.

The
latter becomes a serious issue for Ove when a young family moves
across the street from him. The husband, a software professional,
manages to reverse his trailer right over Ove’s mailbox. Ove can’t
believe it. Why can’t everyone just handle their own lives and
allow him to die without all the interruptions? Why do people
continue with their stupidity?

What starts as “stupidity”
slowly turns into the realization that not everyone experiences life
as he does—and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. But must he
really admit that out loud? Why does the young wife from across the
street insist on including him in family events? Ove really doesn’t
need anyone to include him in anything…does he?

Fans of the Pixar movie Up
definitely need to read this book. If Mr. Fredrickson of the film had
stayed in town instead of floating away in his house, A Man Called
Ove would show fans an account of the life of a curmudgeonly old man.
As much as Ove hates to interact with the general public, the general
public eventually starts to love him. Readers will feel exactly the
same way long before the end of the book.

Author Fredrik Backman
takes a story that feels borrowed from the film and makes it all his
own. He constructs in Ove a winning protagonist; every one of Ove’s
quirks and complaints about life will have readers either shaking
their heads in amusement or groaning at Ove’s insistence in
remaining a wet blanket. Every single supporting character in the
book fits perfectly within the storyline, enhancing and adding small
moments that only those particular characters could. The result
becomes a book that will make readers sympathize early on with Ove
and tear up for him in the end, especially because Ove needs what
everyone else in life does. He just hides that need better than most.

I highly recommend the
book for Up fans and book lovers alike. If you like a heartwarming
story that will keep you smiling days after you finish the book,
don’t miss A Man Called Ove.